Advice for frugal heat users. TRVs? Room stats? Nothing?

[DIYNotIan]

Hi all

I've been re-thinking my heating recently and wondered if anyone could offer a little advice.

My partner and I's needs are a little unusual for a few reasons:

1. We are used to cold houses and can't stand being too hot. I'd say 16-18C is a good range for us. So even on a cold week like this (snow outside, traffic disruptions, etc) we are only having the heating on for at most three hours a day. We never use a timer - just switch on manually when the need arises.

2. I work shifts and the partner's work can be a bit erratic at times too. So there are no set times of need.

3. The rooms we use tend to change daily. I have a music room. The partner has her own room. And there's a living room. SO depending on what we are up to, the heating requirements of different rooms changes daily.


As things stand we have oil CH. The boiler is around 20 years old. Some rads have TRVs whilst others do not. There is no room stat in the house.

We are due a boiler service. And the partner wants the rad in her room changed to a different sized one. Few other plumbing jobs are needed to. So whilst on the subject we are reconsidering our approach to heating and reading up on TRVs, room stats, etc. I'm a bit confused as to whether any of these things would be a worthwhile investment for us considering the above. The downside of how things are at the moment has been well illustrated today. The morning got increasingly colder, so we put the heating on early afternoon for 2-3 hours. Ended up at 18.5C and wearing a t-shirt. Turned heating off. OK for a short while but started getting chilly again as the evening went on.

I'm don't know a great deal about heating etc and wondered if anyone can offer advice as to what might be best in our circumstances.

Huge thanks

Max

 

[Burnerman]

When your heating is actually switched on, its basically roaring away producing heat when you don't need it so a room thermostat is a priority, followed by TRV's especially in rooms that aren't used much.
A wireless thermostat could be your best choice as it can be anywhere in the house - so long as its within transmitting reach of the receiver part that is hard wired to the boiler.
John

 

[DIYNotIan]

Thanks John. I'm gonna start by keeping a better eye on temps in the house. As things are, let's say I set the thermostat to 17C.... So up until that temp the heating is on permanently, but once reached it turns off. How far does the temp have to fall below 17C for the boiler to kick in again?

Cheers

 

[Burnerman]

That temperature differential is called the hysteresis, Max and it can vary from stat to stat.......personally I'm having a moan at my own stat which when set to 16 doesn't cut out until 18 degrees.
What I do is to turn the stat up until it just clicks, and then back down until just before it clicks off, if you get my drift. Its reasonably accurate that way.
A wireless stat can be carried from room to room which could be an advantage.
If you post back with your boiler make, someone on here will be able to tell you where the stat connections are.
My own most ancient and basic system simply controls the circulating pump, and the internal boiler stat looks after the boiler. It works well enough in my case.
My other property has a WB Heatslave and there are connections on the PCB for that one.
John

 

[misterdubya]

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